Ex-teacher Jailed For Sex With Students

Judge Sentences Woman To 45 Days In Case Involving New Britain High Teens

July 12, 2001|By MARYELLEN FILLO; Courant Staff Writer

BRISTOL — Former New Britain High School teacher Kristi Van Buren sat quietly next to her husband Wednesday as a prosecutor told how she had sexual intercourse with a student in several local parking lots last year.

Van Buren barely blinked as prosecutor Stephen Preleski went on to describe the oral sex she engaged in with at least one student in her Burlington home. She offered no apologies and remained calm as she was subsequently sentenced to 45 days in prison, becoming the state's first woman to be incarcerated for having sex with students while she was a teacher.

FOR THE RECORD - Correction was published Friday July 13, 2001 on Page A2.Judge Christina Dunnell's last name was misspelled as Dunnella in a story on Page 1 Thursday.

Van Buren, 37, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of fourth-degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor, in Bristol Superior Court. Parents of the victims told the court that Van Buren had betrayed their trust and scarred their families.

``This is a case of where families are looking for justice and are asking, `Please make it right,''' Judge Christina Dunnella said as she prepared to approve the recommended sentence. ``This is a case where we can't do that, but for a person who has never been to jail or imagined going to jail, every day there will seem like a year. It will not be a picnic.''

Van Buren, a married mother of two, was charged with several counts of second-degree sexual assault in January and February. The two students, both members of the high school football team, were 17 and 18 at the time of the incidents. Van Buren was suspended from her teaching post and eventually resigned after her arrests.

Cordial and attentive as she waited for the hearing to begin, Van Buren sat with her husband, Mark, also a teacher at New Britain High School, who brought her a backpack containing the clothes she would change into for her trip to the women's prison in Niantic.

She remained calm during the hourlong proceedings, which included a review of the trysts that court officials said occurred at her home, in the parking lots of DiLoreto Elementary School and St. Jerome Church in New Britain and in the parking lot of the Farmington Marriott. Preleski said Van Buren had sexual intercourse with one student in a car in the Marriott parking lot. A security guard told the two to leave, Preleski said. Van Buren also engaged in oral sex with at least one of the students at her home, Preleski said.

Dressed in black pants and a royal blue sweater, Van Buren sat quietly as the mothers of the two victims stood within a few feet of her and delivered tearful statements about how their families and sons had been harmed.

``This woman was our son's mentor. We trusted her,'' said one of the mothers, who remained anonymous as part of the proceedings. ``We thought he was learning at school. Instead he was being sexually harassed. It is just horrible that someone we thought was upstanding could do this to children. Schools should be a safe place.''

Court officials said Van Buren was the first female teacher in the state to be charged and sentenced under a state law passed in 1994 that prohibits any sex, consensual or otherwise, between students and teachers.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of having sex with one student between June and October, 2000, while she was a social studies teacher at the school. On a third count of fourth-degree sexual assault involving another student, she pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine, which means she did not admit guilt, but conceded the state had enough evidence for a conviction.

Besides jail time and three years' probation, the court ordered Van Buren to relinquish her teaching certification and to register with the state as a sex offender. She also is prohibited from having any contact with the families of the victims and forbidden from teaching or tutoring in any school in the state. She was ordered to receive counseling and pay the victims for any out-of-pocket expenses they incurred for counseling.

Before the start of the proceedings, parents of the two victims huddled with their attorneys, clearly not comfortable with the plea bargain. While agreeing to the lesser charges, the parents and their attorneys made several statements to the court to make sure their concerns over the sentence were aired.

``My client planned on being here, but is not because of the effect this has had on him,'' said Richard A. Goodine Jr., who represented one of the teenagers and his parents. ``The media attention to this case has hurt him more than the actual acts involved. ... This is a young man who will be labeled the rest of his life.''

Van Buren ``befriended us as a family and even sat with us at football games,'' the same victim's mother sobbed as her husband rushed up from his seat and placed his hands on her shoulders. ``She has destroyed our lives.''

Others, however, including several New Britain High School staff members who attended the hearing, questioned how badly the students were harmed.

One of the students ``was high-fiving other kids in school over this,'' said one staff member, who declined to give her name.